Katherine Bryan- Robin Stevens: Orchestral Music Vol. 3 (CD)
The compositional career of Robin Stevens (1958-2026), Welsh-born and Manchester-based, was divided into two periods, separated by a period of illness. The first produced mainly chamber music and works for the church that employed him; restored to health (briefly, as it transpired), he found an appetite for larger forms, writing three substantial concertos and a number of other orchestral works. The tone-poem Mourning into Dancing was his first for large orchestra, but he handles the medium with virtuosic assurance, generating a wildly exciting showpiece, a kaleidoscope of colour and rhythm. Stevens never lived to complete the symphony he had in mind, but his expansive, four-movement Viola Concerto is symphonic in outline, with the viola soloist both initiating and commenting on the action - rather like a distant cousin of Berlioz's Harold en Italie. The more modest Concert Rondo for flute and small orchestra provides light relief between these two mighty scores.
UPC > 5060113447883
Format > New CD
Label > Toccata
Shop online at Darkside Records.
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> Due to the current limited nature of music titles, ALL CD & Vinyl purchases are limited to FOUR copies per customer, per item. If you place multiple orders for multiples of the same title, your subsequent orders will be canceled.
The compositional career of Robin Stevens (1958-2026), Welsh-born and Manchester-based, was divided into two periods, separated by a period of illness. The first produced mainly chamber music and works for the church that employed him; restored to health (briefly, as it transpired), he found an appetite for larger forms, writing three substantial concertos and a number of other orchestral works. The tone-poem Mourning into Dancing was his first for large orchestra, but he handles the medium with virtuosic assurance, generating a wildly exciting showpiece, a kaleidoscope of colour and rhythm. Stevens never lived to complete the symphony he had in mind, but his expansive, four-movement Viola Concerto is symphonic in outline, with the viola soloist both initiating and commenting on the action - rather like a distant cousin of Berlioz's Harold en Italie. The more modest Concert Rondo for flute and small orchestra provides light relief between these two mighty scores.
UPC > 5060113447883
Format > New CD
Label > Toccata
Shop online at Darkside Records.
Follow us on Instagram.
> Due to the current limited nature of music titles, ALL CD & Vinyl purchases are limited to FOUR copies per customer, per item. If you place multiple orders for multiples of the same title, your subsequent orders will be canceled.